(1) The Tennessee higher education commission is authorized and empowered to develop reasonable and objective rules and standards for the purpose of determining when degree-granting institutions of higher learning under its jurisdiction have attained the status of a university.
(2) The rules and standards shall take into consideration such factors as variety and depth of instructional programs and the various resources of the institution.
(3) Whenever a state degree-granting institution of higher learning has achieved the status of a university in accordance with the rules and standards authorized in subsection (a), the commission may designate the degree-granting institution of higher learning a university.
(4) Neither this section nor the authorizations conveyed in this section shall have any effect on institutions of higher learning that have already been designated as universities by action of the general assembly.